Power-counter.



L. E. LABOMBARDE & M. H. SIDIEBOTHAM.

POWER COUNTER.

APPLICATION FILED Human; m4.

Patented Apr... 113,-11915.

fisnnntrs sanm 1.

LEON E. LABOMBARDE AND MELVIN H. SIJDIEBOTH, 01F NHUA, NEW MPSHK t1.

POWER-COUNTER.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Apr. 113, 19115..

Application filed January 31. 1914. Serial No. twfifit).

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that we, LEON E. LAnoM- canon and MnLvIN H. SIDEBOTHAM, citizens of the United States, and residents of Nashua, in the county of Hillsboro and State of New Hampshire, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Power-Counters, of which the following is a specification.

Mechanisms which count passing articles, such as those issuing from a machine which makes or treats such articles, are usually so constructed that the articles themselves actuate the mechanism, by contacting with and moving or oscillating an element (such as a finger) of the mechanism. One objection is that the articles are liable to be more or less mutilated by contact with the element actuated by the passing article, especially when said articles are of thin material.

The principal object of the present invention is to provide a counter which is actuated entirely by power and only when an article is present or passing through the counter, no part of the device being actuated or shifted by the articles being counted.

1n the embodiment of the invention illustrated, the counting is performed by indicating a certain number of articles that have passed through the mechanism, but we may employ other structures of counting mechanism. For instance, an ordinary veeder counter may be included in the mechanism. The mechanism illustrated is designed to count the articles in lots of fifty, doing this by delivering each fiftieth article in a manner difl'ering from that of the delivery of the preceding forty-nine articles, whereby an attendant may gather up the articles in lots of fifty for the purpose of boxing or otherwise disposing of them. Of course, the article that is selected for different delivery, may be other than each fiftieth one, or as above stated, difierent counting mechanism may be employed.

Of the accompanying drawings,lFigure 1 is a side. elevation of our improved counter in one of its embodiments. Fig. 2 is an elevation from the side opposite to that shown in Fig. 1. Fig. 3 represents a section on line 33 of Fig. 1. Fig. 4 is a detail elevation, showing portions of the mechanism in elevation as illustrated in Fig. 1, but omitting the frame and some other parts, for convenience of illustration. Fig. 5 represents a section on line 55 of Fig. 1, looking toward the right.

The frame 12 of the counter supports a shaft 13, on which are mounted to rotate a disk 14 and a ratchet 15, said disk and ratchet being secured together to rotate in unison. Said connection is efiected by means of a screw 16 passing through a slot 17 in the ratchet and entering a threaded hole in the disk 14. The disk 14 has a peripheral cam 18, for a purpose hereinafter described. The connection with the disk and ratchet by means of the screw passing through a slot provides for a relative adjustment of the disk and ratchet in order to locate the cam 18 accurately with respect to the teeth of the ratchet.

Mounted on the shaft 13 is an arm 19 having a pawl 20 which is yieldingly held in cooperative relationship with the ratchet by means of a spring, 21.

The power to oscillate the pawl arm is obtained from the machine which makes or treats the articles to be counted. It is not necessary to illustrate any such machine herein. It is to be understood that the frame 12 is suitably attached to such machine. A plate bracket 22 projecting from the frame 12 has a forked outer edge which engages a peripheral groove in a hollow or sleeve shaft 23, said sleeve shaft being adapted to be mounted upon and to be keyed upon a suitable constantly rotating shaft of the machine to which the counter is applied, such a shaft being indicated in cross section at a. The sleeve shaft 23 has an eccentric 24 to which is fitted an eccentric strap having an arm or pitman connected to the pawl arm 19. It will now be understood that during the operation of the machine which makes or treats the articles, the pawl arm will be constantly oscillated by the power of said machine, and, therefore, that the pawl 20 will rotate the ratchet 15 step by step, excepting when prevented from doing so by means hereinafter described. A detent pawl for the ratchet is indicated at 27. To prevent the possibility of overthrow of the ratchet, we provide a screw 28 passing through one side of the frame 12, and having its inner end provided with a frictional plug adapted to bear against the side of the ratchet 15, thus serving as a brake for the ratchet and its connected disk 14.

As the articles made or treated by the machine are delivered from said machine, they ass edgewise, in the direction of the arrow 1n Fig. 1, through a throat or guideway formed by upper and lower plates 29, 30 At the delivery end of the throat is a roll 31 which is preferably peripherally corrugatedand provided with one or more annular grooves. The shaft of said roll 31 has a pulley 32 over which a drive belt (not shown.) passes. The mechanism last described is supported by a bracket 33, connected to and depending from the frame 12, said bracket having vertical slots 34 throu h which screws 35 pass into the foot of the frame, whereby the said throat and the roll 31 may be vertically adjusted, said adjustment also aflecting'the position of the lower delivery roll hereinafter described. A slide 36 is mounted in a vertical guideway 37 on the inner face of one of the side members of the frame, said slide having a bracket 38 at its foot, said bracket having bearings for a rotary presser-foot 39. In the present instance this presser-foot comprises a small shaft with two rolls so positioned as to be above, and capable of slightly entering the two annular grooves of the roll 31. It is not essential, however, that the rolls of the presser-foot shall enter said grooves, but that they shall be capable of being acted upon by an article passing through the throat over the roll 31, so as to be prevented by said article from descending to its lower limit of movement. The vertical position of the presser-foot and the slide which carries it determines whether or not the ratchet shall be actuated by its pawl. -To this end the upper end of the slide 36 is connected by a link 40 with an arm 41 which is mounted to oscillate upon the shaft 13. Integral with or secured to the arm 41 is an upright arm 42, which, for convenience of definition, is referred to as the shield, the upper end of said shield having a cam surface 43, a notch 44, being formed at the upper end of the cam 43. The 1 spring 21 which acts upon the pawl 20 is of such strength that when the awl 20 is bearing upon the cam edge 43, it as a tendency to swing the shield in the direction of the arrow in- Fig. 2 toward a stop 45. Said stop comprises a pin projecting eccentrically from the inner end of a rotatably adjustable stud 46, a nut 47, fitted to said stud holding it in its rotatably adjusted position so that the stop pin 45 may be set in proper position to limit the movement of the shield in one direction. The weight of the slide 36 and the arm 41 have a tendency to swing the shield in the opposite direction from that indicated by the arrow in Fig. 2, keeping the upper end of the arm 42 in contact with the pawl 20, whether said pawl is bearing on the cam edge 43 or is in notch 44. Therefore, since the arm 19 and its pawl 20 are constantly oscillating when the device is in use as described, the member 39 is constantly shifting across path of travel of the articles through the guideway onto and across the roll 31.

The operation of the mechanism of the counter so far described, is as follows. The articles pass through the throat in rapid succession, and being carried along by the roll 31, each article will pass under the constantly rising and falling presser-foot. This is because the presence of the said article arrests the presser foot in its first downward movement and prevents the arm 42 from swinging far enough to carry the notch 44 to a position where the pawl 20 could engage it when the pawl is raised by moving backwardly over the next tooth of the ratchet. When an article is so passing under the presser-foot, the shield occupies the position shown by full lines in Fig. 4,thus permitting the constantly oscillating pawl 20 to engage the ratchet and advance it and its attached disk the distance of one tooth. The moment that the article has passed, the presser-foot is free to descend to the lower dotted-line position in Fig. 4, so that as the actuating pawl ismoving backwardly over the next tooth of the ratchet and is raised thereby, the arm 42 is free to swing to locate the notch 44 under the end of the said pawl, and said pawl then drops into the notch 44 and is thereby held so that although it is constantly oscillating, it cannot actuate the ratchet and disk. The notch is so shaped that it holds the edge of the pawl 20, and the shield and actuating pawl will then oscillate together, the pawl being still held out of engagement with the ratchet. When an article passes through the throat and reaches the roll 31, it prevents the presserfoot from descending as far as before and thus holds the shield so that the pawl, as it oscillates in one direction, will be drawn out ofthe notch 44, and the spring 21 will then immediately act upon the cam edge of the shield to oscillate said shield and permit the pawl 20 to engage the next tooth of the ratchet and advance it. As long as a succession of articles pass through the throat without break or interruption, the actuating pawl 20 will continue to rotate the ratchet and disk step by step.

The roll or presser foot 39 constitutes a controller for the counter, because the effectivenessor ineffectiveness of the continuously-operated power-actuated pawl is determined by the position to which said member 39 may be shifted. If an article is passing it arrests the controlling member or limits the extent of its movement in a direction transverse of the path of travel of the article and the counting mechanism operates, while if no article is in the way Til lh'ththhd said controlling member is free to move its full distance and render the counting mechanism inedective.

@up osing that the ratchet has 59 teeth, then t e cam 18 of the disk 14 will erform its function once for each 50 articles that have assed through the throat. The function 0 said cam 18 is to cause one article to be delivered diderently from the other. For instance, supposing that the articles issuing from the counter are delivered on to a slowly moving belt or carrier, then they will be overlapped one upon another on said carrier in a row. If one of a predetermined series is delivered so that it projects aside from the otherwise uniform row, an attendant can gather the delivered articles up in bunches comprising the predetermined number.

The bracket 33 has a horizontal extremity or shelf 48, a vertical screw 49 passing through said shelf and into a ill-shaped sup port or bracket 50. A shaft 51 mounted in said bracket 50 has a pulley 52 for a belt (not shown), and carries a roller 53 which is preferably frictional surfaced, said roller 53 serving to deliver the articles after they leave the throat and the roll 31. By means of the screw 49 the angle of operation of the delivery roll may be adjusted for a purpose presently described. llntermittently cotipera-ting with the delivery roll 53, but normally at such distance therefrom as to be inoperative, is a bearing delivery roller 54, the roller 54 being carried by an inverted U- shaped bracket 55 which is secured b a screw 56 to the end of an arm 57 secure to a rock-shaft 58, said rock-shaft having another arm 59 provided with a roll 60, said arm 59 being acted upon by a spring 61 to hold the roll 60 in contact with the periphery of the disk 14. It will now be understood that when the cam 18 reaches the roll 60, it acts upon the arm 59 to rock the shaft 58 and throw the roller 54 down upon the roller 53, or sulliciently close to the latter to grip between it and said roller 53 the article that is being passed between the two rollers 53, 54. The roller 54, as well as the roller 53, is adjusted so that its axis is not at a right angle to the line of passage of the articles issuing from the throat. Therefore, whenever the upper or bearing roller 54 descends, due to the action of the cam 18, the article which is then passing between. the rollers 53, 54, will be directed aside. When the roller 54 is in its normal raised position, the articles pass successively over the roller 53, without being influenced by the latter, or at least, without being influenced to such an extent as to be deflected aside.

We claim:

1. A counter having means for actuating it by power, a guideway for the edgewise travel of the articles to be counted, a controller navatle transversel of the path or travel of the articles, and connections whereby the extent of movement of the controller determines the edectiveness or inedectiven'e's's of the actuating means.

2. A counter having means for actuating it by power, a guideway for the edgewise travel of the articles to be counted, a con: troller movable transversely of the path of travel of the articles, connections whereby the extent of movement of the controller detel-mines the efi'ectiveness or inefi'ectiveness of the actuatin' means, and means for automatically varymg the positions of delivery of some of the articles atpredetermined intervals.

3. A counter having a continuously operating power-actuated member, a guideway for the edgewise travel of the articles to be counted, and a controller movable transversely of the path of travel of the articles for determining the edectivenessof said member.

4. A counter having a continuously operating power-actuator normally disconnected from the counting mechanism, a guideway for the edgewise travel of the articles to be counted, a controller movable transversely of the path of movement of the articles, and connections whereby said controller is operated by said actuator, said connections including means for efl'ec'ting an operative connection of the actuator and counting mechanism when the movement of thecontroller is arrested by a passing article.

5. A counter comprising in its construction a ratchet, a pawl for actuating said ratchet, said pawl having means for continuously operating it by power, a shield adapted to prevent the enga ement of the ratchet by said pawl, a gui eway for the edgewise travel of the articles to be counted,

and means movable transversely of the path of travel of the articles for controlling the position ofsaid shield according to the presence or absence of an article to be counted.

6. A counter comprising in its construction a ratchet, an oscillating pawl for actuating said ratchet, said pawl having means for continuously operating it by power, a feed roll for the articles to be counted, a presser foot movable toward and from said feed roll, an oscillating shield adapted to prevent the pawl from actuating the ratchet, said shield having a notch to engage said pawl to cause the shield and pawl to oscillate together when no article is passing and connections between said presser foot and shield for shifting the latter.

7. A counter comprising in its construction aratchet, an oscillating pawl for actuating said ratchet, said pawl having means for continuously operating it by power, a feed roll for the articles to be counted, a presser foot movable toward and from said feed roll, means for directing articles to be counted between the feed roll and resser foot, an oscillating shield for preventing the pawl from actuating the ratchet, said shield having a notch to engage said pawl to cause the shield and pawl to' oscillate together when no article is passing and connections between said shield and presser foot whereby the shield is shifted by the presser foot.

8. A counter comprising in its construction a ratchet, a cam connected to rotate with said ratchet, a pawl for actuating the ratchet, said pawl having means for continuously operating it by power, a shield for preventing the pawl from actuating the ratchet, a guideway for the edgewise travel of. the articles to be counted, a controller movable transversely of the path of travel of the article for determining the position of the shield, and means controlled by said cam for engaging articles at predetermined intervals and delivering them in positions differing from the positions of the inter mediate articles.

9. A counter comprising, in its construction a ratchet, a cam connected to rotate with said ratchet, a pawl for actuating the ratchet, said pawl having means for continuously operating it by power, means adjacent the path of a passing article for determining the effectiveness of said pawl delivering rolls between which the articles pass from the counter, said rolls being adapted to laterally turn articles en aged thereby, and connections whereby sai cam brings said delivering rolls into operative relationship. I

10. A counter comprising in its construction a ratchet, a cam connected to rotate with said ratchet, a pawl for actuating the ratchet, said pawl having means for continuously operating it by power, and means adjacent the path of a passing article for determining the efi'ectiveness of said pawl, a driven roll over which the articles are passed from the counter, a bearing roll movable toward and from the last-mentioned roll, and connections whereby the cam will depress the bearing roll, the axes of the bearing roll and the one below it being other than at a right angle relatively to the normal path of delivery of the articles.

In testimony whereof we have affixed our signatures, in presence of two witnesses.

LEON E. LABOMBARDE. MELVIN H. SIDEBOTHAM.

Witnesses:

MARY E. LUND, LILLIAN M. HOUDE. 

